The one device that's never actually off
Every guide on this site about a specific gadget's standby draw, the games console, the TV above, ends up in the same place: modern standby modes have shrunk close to nothing, and the real waste is a habit, not the electronics. The wireless router breaks that pattern, for one simple reason. You can't flick it off at the wall overnight the way you can a TV or a console, because it's also serving whatever else in the house is quietly checking in while you sleep. Comparison site MyConnect puts a typical wireless modem/router's standby draw at 7–10 W, modest next to a kettle, but running literally every hour of every year rather than the handful of hours a TV or console spends idling each day.
Run that 24/7 assumption on the site's own state electricity rates: at the low end of that range (7 W) it comes to $17 (ACT) to $23 (SA) a year; at the high end (10 W), $24 (ACT) to $33 (SA). That's from one device, sitting untouched on a shelf, and against Canstar Blue's own $41-a-year estimate for an entire house of ten typical standby gadgets combined, that's about 40% of the whole house's standby load at the router's low end, and closer to 80% at its high end. The table above has your own state, plus our TV calculator's own standby figure run the same way, for scale, a dollar or so a year, a rounding error next to the router.
What this costs, state by state
A wireless modem/router left switched on every hour of every day of the year, because unlike a TV or console, there's no realistic ‘off’ setting that doesn't also kill the home internet, against our TV running cost calculator's own registry-median standby figure, run on the same 24/7 basis for scale.
| State | Rate | Router/modem, low estimate (7 W) | Router/modem, high estimate (10 W) | TV standby, for comparison (0.4 W) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | 32.4¢ | $19.87 | $28.38 | $1.14 |
| Victoria | 29.8¢ | $18.27 | $26.10 | $1.04 |
| Queensland | 31.2¢ | $19.13 | $27.33 | $1.09 |
| South Australia | 38.1¢ | $23.36 | $33.38 | $1.34 |
| Western Australia | 33.6¢ | $20.60 | $29.43 | $1.18 |
| Tasmania | 28.9¢ | $17.72 | $25.32 | $1.01 |
| Australian Capital Territory | 27.4¢ | $16.80 | $24.00 | 96¢ |
| Northern Territory | 31.7¢ | $19.44 | $27.77 | $1.11 |
Reference rates for 2026–27. Your row is highlighted once you set your location.
What else adds up, and what doesn't
Once you set aside the TV and console, each already has its own guide on this site, the rest of a typical home's standby load is smaller than the old ‘vampire power’ panic suggested. Canstar Blue's own device breakdown puts a computer monitor at roughly half a watt and a microwave's standby clock at just 1 W, down from 4 W two decades ago, a 75% cut as clock displays moved to cheaper, more efficient chips, each is worth a dollar or two a year, not the double-digit sums a router can rack up. MyConnect's own annual figures for an always-plugged-in dishwasher (3 W, roughly $7.88 a year) and a washing machine (1–6 W, $2.62 to $14.90 a year) sit in between: worth a switch at the power board if you're passing anyway, not worth restructuring your evening around.
The honest total for a modern home, excluding the router, sits between two independent estimates: MyConnect's own figure of up to 10% of a power bill (around $90 a year for ten typical devices), and Canstar Blue's separate ten-device tally of about $41 a year, a bracket, not a contradiction, since the two studies priced different device lists at different rates. Either way, it's real money, but it's the router that's the free fix here: a power board with a switch costs nothing, while a full-house standby audit is a lot of effort for the smaller number on the other side of this guide.
Common questions
Does a mesh WiFi system cost more in standby than a single router?
Yes, roughly in proportion to how many satellites are plugged in. Each mesh satellite draws about the same 7 to 10 W as the router itself, so a typical 3-node mesh system's standby cost runs close to three times a single router's, about $61 (ACT) to $85 (SA) a year rather than $17 to $33. See our companion guide on mesh WiFi running costs for the full state-by-state figures.
Is there any way to cut a router's own standby cost, since it can't be switched off?
Not much, short of replacing it. Turning it off kills the home internet, so the 24/7 running time is fixed. The 7 to 10 W range already covers most routers on the market; a newer, more efficient model sits at the low end of that range, but there's no setting to change the way there is on a TV or console.
Is old-style standby power still a real cost in 2026?
Less than it used to be, for most gadgets. A microwave's standby clock has dropped from around 4 W two decades ago to about 1 W today, per Canstar Blue's own figures, and most small electronics now sit under 2 W. A full house of ten typical standby devices still adds up to $40–$90 a year by two independent estimates, but no single device beyond the router is worth chasing hard any more.
Sources
Router/modem standby wattage and per-device annual cost figures (dishwasher, washing machine), quoted directly: MyConnect, Standby Power, What Is The Cost Of Leaving Appliances On Standby? Household ‘vampire appliance’ wattage table and total annual cost estimate, quoted directly: Canstar, Are vampire appliances as ghoulish as we think? (30 Oct 2025). TV standby wattage: the registry median already used by our TV running cost calculator. Electricity rates: AER Default Market Offer and each state's regulated reference tariff, current for 2026–27. All fetched July 2026.